


A Day in the Life of a Runaway

by Engelsoft



Series: Children of the Maw [3]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: A self-indulgent Hot Mess, Also the Nomes are non-binary in my brain so I wrote them as such, And his Nome buddies, Enjoy!, Gen, If you’ve read Children of the Maw you’ll know who this character is, Light-Hearted, OC-centric, Reee I don’t know how to tag this, Stealing food and games and fun, Takes place on the Maw, The Hideaway, The Kitchens, This follows my OC Three, This is a lil snippet from his past, This might be a stand-alone or I might do some more fics about Three’s life if people want that, much fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26660992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engelsoft/pseuds/Engelsoft
Summary: Three (an OC from another fic of mine, Children of the Maw) and his day-to-day life on the Maw with all his Nome buddies.
Series: Children of the Maw [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924753
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	A Day in the Life of a Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> I was sick and wrote this light-hearted Mess to take my mind off it a bit. It’s not much really but I hope you like it! Comments appreciated! ^-^

As Three neared the familiar Kitchens, the strong, oily stench of fish wafted through the vents. He gagged a little and covered his nose. He didn’t mind the taste of seafood, but the smell was something else. Three didn’t even need to peek out of the vent to see what the Twin Chefs were doing. His nose alone could tell him it was canning day.

The Chefs did this every few weeks, lining up hundreds of cans throughout the main kitchen and loading them with various fillings like fish, meat (he wasn’t sure what kind) and gravy, sometimes vegetables. Most commonly though, it was fish or other seafood. They were on a gigantic ship after all, and they had to use what was easily available. After all the cans had been sealed, they were sent off in the direction of the Prison, rations for the children.

Three rubbed his hands together. He liked these days. The Chefs were kept busy enough to not notice him easily, and he had lots of opportunities to gather canned goods for himself and the Nomes back at the Hideaway. There were so many cans there that the Chefs wouldn’t notice a few missing.

He felt bad for taking food that was meant to go to the children in the Prison, but he overcame that guilt by reminding himself that he _needed_ to eat. And besides, he didn’t take a lot. Only little pinches here and there when the opportunity arose, to be eaten immediately or stashed away for later.

Grasping his roughly-sewn cloth sack, Three snuck out of the vent and under a nearby table. There were rows upon rows of cans above him - enough to feed the Hideaway for weeks, months! But he couldn’t get ahead of himself; he had to be careful.

Three waited and waited until one of the Chefs went upstairs, leaving his brother alone. Maybe he was going for a long nap, or a quick toilet break - who knew? What Three _did_ know was that he’d have to be fast, working quickly and quietly while there was only one Chef to deal with instead of two.

With the First Chef’s back turned, Three climbed up onto the table and grabbed the can nearest to him. He wasn’t sure what this one would be filled with. It was all a game of chance, and he simply grabbed the first one in arm’s reach. With the can in his arms, he jumped down off the table and hid underneath it again, stashing it into his little cloth sack.

He did this several more times until he’d gathered a small bundle of cans. He couldn’t carry very much at once; instead he had to grab a few cans, take them back to the vent and leave them there for a moment, venture back out to grab some more and so on.

With his work now complete, Three slipped back into the vent like a mouse and looked over what he’d accumulated with a grin. Now to get them back to the Hideaway.

Three quietly emptied his sack and lay it out flat behind him. He placed the cans on top of the cloth surface one by one, and then began to drag it behind him using a long piece of ribbon that he’d sewn onto it. He’d come up with this system a long time ago: the cloth layer would prevent the cans from scraping against the metal vent and causing loud noise, and this also was much easier than trying (and failing) to carry everything in his arms.

Three smiled. It was like a little sled that he towed his goods along with. In a weird way, it was kind of fun to steal from the Chefs. It was fun to return to the Hideaway after an adventure to the Kitchens, showing his Nome friends all the precious food he’d managed to bring back. And it was funny to watch the Chefs stomp around like angry elephants, trying to find out where their ingredients had gone.

Three wondered why they always got so angry at his thieving. Sure, he _was_ stealing, but the amounts of food he took were so tiny it should hardly matter. What was a feast for him was probably only a mouthful for the Chefs. He wasn’t hurting anyone by taking a piece of bread here or a forgotten hunk of cheese there. The Twin Chefs were just full of greed. It bothered Three that the Maw had so much food on it, but so many kids onboard were malnourished.

It was smooth travelling from here on out, through the long vent and then down to where his friends were waiting to help him. The vent came to an end soon enough, and Three reached a narrow ladder that stretched downwards. He peered down to the bottom, where a pair of Nomes had been dutifully waiting for him since he’d left.

“Hey, Button! Hey, Green! I’m back!”

The Nomes looked up at him, giving excited little jumps. They waved up at him and he laughed.

“Sorry I took so long! I’m gonna lower down this stuff, ok? Ready?”

At the top of the ladder, Three placed a few cans at a time into his sack and then lowered it down to the Nomes using the sturdy ribbon. The Nomes emptied it for him and then he pulled it up again, repeating the process until all the cans had been safely transported to the bottom of the ladder.

“Nice work!” Now that his hands were free, Three climbed down the ladder and joined his friends, setting up his little sack-sled again to carry the food the rest of the way.

One of the Nomes, Button, came up to his side and peeked into one of his baggy coat pockets.

“I couldn’t find any turnips this time,” Three said. “Sorry, buddy. Maybe in a few days.”

Button waved their hand dismissively as if to say ‘Nah, it’s ok’ but as the group began walking to the Hideaway’s secret entrance, Three noticed his vegetable-loving friend dragging their feet a little.

“I wonder if the others finished the block tower while we were gone?” Three wondered aloud.

Green, who had insisted on carrying one of the cans above their head like a trophy, nodded eagerly and scuttled on ahead.

Three and the Nomes reached the hidden entrance of the Hideaway - a small crack in the wall concealed by a large wooden box - and worked together to push it aside.

The warm, flickering light greeted Three and his companions as they crawled inside. The rest of the Nomes gathered around as soon as they’d returned, rattling happily. One of the Nomes leapt right into his arms.

“Oh! Hey, Bouncy! And hi, Jingle and Tall and Small! Did ya mi-? Woahhh…you finished the tower!”

Three’s mouth opened wide as he took in the tall, precarious tower that the Nomes had built while he was out getting food. They had started it before he’d left, using chipped building blocks scavenged from the rubbish chutes - but they hadn’t stopped there. Clearly, just a block tower hadn’t been enough of a challenge. The Nomes had also used empty cans and whatever other tidbits they could balance to add height to the tower, climbing up on the boxes around the Hideaway to stack the pieces on top of each other. There was even a doll perched on top, it’s arms raised up high to make the top of the tower just a liiiittle bit taller.

“This. Is. Awesome!” Three exclaimed. He put Bouncy down and ran over to get a closer look. “I bet this is the biggest one yet!” He skipped around the room, the Nomes scurrying after him and bounding with delight. “Who put the doll on top?”

Tall (the tallest of the Nomes, no surprise there) raised their hand proudly. Three scooped them up in a hug and twirled around. “Yeeeeahhh!” He spun until he got dizzy, then he and Tall fell down in a heap and laughed uncontrollably. The other Nomes climbed over Three, wanting to be picked up and spun around too, and he happily obliged.

“Wheeeee!” Three spun all the Nomes around one by one until his head was spinning too. The last one, Small, hopped up and down, wiggling their arms at Three impatiently.

“Lucky last! I didn’t forget you, Small!” Three picked up Small and they spun around together. The dizziness was becoming incredibly strong, more than enough to nauseate a regular person, but for Three it was exhilarating. His baggy coat billowed out around him as he twirled around and around and - _oh no, the tower!_

Three felt his coat brush against the base of it and he tried to stagger away from it as quickly as he could. Or at least, he _thought_ he was travelling away from it - he could hardly tell with how dizzy he was. The next thing he knew he had toppled onto the floor, holding Small in his lap. He blinked and craned his neck to look at the tower. Was it actually swaying or was that just his dizziness? After a few seconds, the tower still hadn't fallen down. They were safe.

 _Phew!_ Three huffed dramatically and lay back on the floor in relief, waiting for the world to stop spinning. After recovering, he sat up and gave Small a pat on the head.

“Ok…” Three panted, remembering the food and getting to his feet. “Who’s hungry?!”

The Nomes jumped up and down excitedly, ready to eat. They gathered around and Three peeled back the lid of a can. “What’ll it be this time…? Fish!” He found a spoon and gave a scoop to each of the Nomes. One generous spoonful was a suitable-sized meal for a Nome, given how small they were. “Ok, ok...hold still. One for you, Small. And Tall…Button...Green. Oh, come on, I’ll try to get you a radish next time, alright? Jingle...there’s yours….annnd...where’s Bouncy?”

Three and the other Nomes turned just in time to hear a clatter, and a very guilty-looking Bouncy running towards them. The base of the tower was wobbling furiously. _Oh boy._ Three braced himself, covering his ears and closing his eyes, waiting for the crashing to be over.

When he opened his eyes again there was a mess of blocks, empty cans and toys scattered all over the floor. Bouncy was in the middle of it, looking very sheepish.

“ _Bouncy_ ,” Three huffed, hands on his hips. But he could hardly stop himself from smiling. He chased after the overexcited Nome and picked them up, hugging them close. He began laughing again, and the other Nomes rattled with him. Realising they weren’t in trouble, Bouncy relaxed in Three’s arms.

“We all knew _that_ would happen,” Three stated. He placed Bouncy back down on the floor and knelt down to nudge them, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He turned to the others, a grin breaking over his face. “Last one to clean up is a fishy-breath-Chef!”

**Author's Note:**

> Oof anyway thanks for reading this cringey lil thing ^~^ I swear my other writing is better. Have a great day/night wherever you are!


End file.
